Four years on, DDA announces housing scheme 2014

DELHI: Announcing the launch of a new housing scheme in 2014, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said its scheme would cover all segments of society and would provide accommodation ranging from one-room tenements to three-bedroom flats. The flats will be made available in different parts of the city, DDA officials said.

This housing scheme has been announced after the housing scheme in 2010. "Identifying vacant plots for construction has been one of the impediments in launching a new scheme. The formal announcement of the scheme will be made shortly and this will include flats, which have been lying vacant from previous schemes. Approximately 5,000-6,000 flats will be made available in 2014,'' a DDA official said.

Previously, the DDA used to announce housing schemes every two years. In fact, the land agency has still been struggling with completing and handing over flats under its 2010 scheme. Several of the allottees had even gone to court stating that their flats were uninhabitable. Over 650 allottees of the DDA Housing scheme 2010, who were allotted flats in Ganga Block of the Vasant Kunj complex and some blocks in Dwarka Sector-18, were issued possession letters only two weeks ago.

"The DDA took money for our flats in July 2011, but the possession was given to us only in December. These flats were in an uninhabitable condition. There was no water or electricity connection. The building did not have any functioning lifts. I then approached the High Court to get the issue resolved. In the Ganga Block, allottees have just been issued possession letters,'' Saurabh Jain, who was allotted a flat in Saraswati Block, Vasant Kunj, said.

In Mukherjee Nagar also, while water connection was only provided in August, according to allottees construction work is still going on. "They are still constructing gates, boundary wall, parking, community centre, etc. DDA refused to heed complaints and, eventually, we had to approach the court after which we finally got water connection here,'' Deepak Kumar, an allottee of a flat in Mukherjee Nagar, said.

The DDA is already behind on its promise of building one lakh EWS housing a year. It has not even allotted the EWS flats which are lying ready in areas such as Narela, Rohini and Dwarka. The land agency had come up with a decision to allot flats in Dwarka to slum dwellers of Indira Camp, Vikaspuri and Shankar Garden but "modalities are still being worked out for this,'' an official said.

Delhi has nearly 17 million residents, according to official estimates. The Delhi Master Plan-2021 projects the population will swell to nearly 23 million by 2021, and estimates at least 24 lakh more dwelling units will be required by then.

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